Con Edison shuts down power for southern Manhattan as Sandy closes in

A police car looks out over Manhattan as Hurricane Sandy wreaks havoc on the city.Spencer Platt/Getty Images

NEW YORK — Con Edison has preemptively shut down power in southern Manhattan as water levels began to rise in the city’s low-lying areas, threatening underground utility equipment.

Earlier tonight, the utility’s CEO, Kevin Burke, said it was likely that areas east of Broadway to the East River and south of the Brooklyn Bridge.

“We’re doing that to reduce the likelihood of damage to both our equipment and our customers’ equipment,” he said.

Burke, speaking during a press conference with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, did not say when power could be restored, but Con Ed spokesman Michael Clendenin said the measure would help bring that portion of the grid back online faster.

Con Ed said about 6,500 residences and businesses are be affected, although more preemptive shutdowns could occur during a water surge anticipated to last until at least 9 p.m. tonight. About 50,000 were already without power in the city’s five boroughs, but most in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.

Similar concerns could lead the utility to shut down in Brooklyn’s Coney Island and Brighton Beach neighborhoods, Long Island Sound in Queens and portions of the South Bronx, Clendenin said.

The shutdown is to prevent the compromise of the electrical system, Clendenin said.
Bloomberg said city workers would tackle the storm’s aftermath as soon as they were able to safely do so.

“We have a recovery plan in place for once the worst of the storm has passed,” he said. “It will take a day or two to recover. I’m sure there will be some things that will take into the weekend to recover.”